Berdych hoping being King of Queen's leads to SW19 glory

World No 6 Tomas Berdych, whose only appearance at Queen's Club was in 2005, has confirmed he will play at this year's AEGON Championships.

Berdych has taken the advice of his coach Ivan Ljubicic, who brought down the curtain on a 14-year professional career at the Monte Carlo Masters last April.

The Croat feels Berdych would benefit from playing the Wimbledon warm-up event in June as he bids to land his maiden Grand Slam crown at SW19.

Runner up: Berdych lost in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Championships at the weekend to Novak Djokovic

Ljubicic said: 'I believe that playing the AEGON Championships is going to help Tomas this year.

'He only played Queen's once before and I thought he should change that.

'Travelling is tiring. If a player stays in London and gets used to London grass - and the Queen's Club courts are the closest to the courts at Wimbledon - it can only be a good thing. I think it's the best preparation for Wimbledon.'

Second thoughts: Berdych, runner-up at Wimbledon in 2010, will play at Queen's in a bid to secure the SW19 title

Berdych, who reached the Wimbledon final in 2010, agreed, adding: 'I think it could be a good advantage to be in London to get used to the conditions and to those great courts, and I think this is exactly what I need before Wimbledon.

'The experience of reaching the Wimbledon final was great. It showed me a lot of things - that I'm able to play really well through two weeks, which is very tough.

'I now have experience of a grand slam final and I hope one day I can be able to profit from that.

'For instance, the year I reached the Wimbledon final I was able to profit from the Grand Slam semi-final I reached a couple of weeks earlier in Paris, so I hope I can use the experience of reaching the Wimbledon final to make the next step.'

Getting Ivan: Ljubicic, seen retiring in April, is now Berdych's coach